The young artist leaned closer to the table and observed it very carefully.
This pile of things looks like... farm tools?
He guessed right.
These are the wooden models of the farm tools that He Youyou had made for Zhao Wenqi.
Each model is about the size of a palm, and there are all kinds.
But when had he ever encountered anything like this?
They were to learn to paint, but not flowers and birds, not mountains and rocks; instead, they were to paint farm tools…
The second prince's hobbies are truly peculiar.
"Teacher, let's begin."
Zhao Wenqi sat across the table, behaving very obediently, his eyes filled with anticipation.
He even laid out the paper himself.
"Ah... let's... begin."
What can the artist do?
I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and draw it anyway.
Ever since the Second Prince started learning to paint, he has been painting day and night, neglecting to eat or sleep.
He draws in the morning and at night. In the past few days, he has used more paper for drawing than he has used for writing in his entire life.
After drawing for several days, he took a stack of drawings to the workshop.
"Hey bro, look at my drawings, haven't they improved?"
Three Madmen nodded: "Indeed, it's better than last time. We can identify what it is now."
"hey-hey."
The two of them flipped through the blueprints one by one, huddled together, and began studying them again.
Seeing the two of them chatting so enthusiastically, He Youyou became curious and joined in to listen.
As soon as I got within a meter of them, I suddenly raised my hand and covered my nose.
Oh my god...
This flavor is so addictive!
She pointed at the three madmen: "I said... you... haven't taken a shower in days?!"
Three Madman scratched his greasy hair and chuckled, "You're too kind. How could I not have washed it for days? I haven't washed it for at least two months."
He Youyou remained silent.
She then looked at Zhao Wenqi: "You're so close to him, don't you find him smelly?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Wenqi ran over on his short little legs, tilting his head up to show her: "Auntie, I have experience! Look, I have cotton stuffed in my nose, so I can't smell anything."
He Youyou gave him a thumbs up: "You're amazing!"
Zhao Wenqi ran back triumphantly.
As soon as she left the R&D team's room, she made a request to Manager Xin: "Tonight, boil some water and find a few burly men to put everyone in the R&D team in the bathtub and give them a thorough wash."
After saying that, she quickly ran to the yard for some fresh air.
After taking only a few steps, I caught a whiff of a fresh and pleasant bamboo leaf fragrance.
ah!
It smells like heaven!
Which kind-hearted god took pity on her?
Following the scent, I almost bumped into a woman in a light blue dress.
He Youyou suddenly stopped and saw Cheng Tingrui standing in front of her with a faint smile on his face.
"Minzhi, you smell so nice, is it incense?"
As she spoke, He Youyou leaned forward again, craning her neck to sniff him.
A faint blush rose to Cheng Tingrui's face.
"It's bamboo leaf incense. If you like it, I'll have someone send you some."
He Youyou pondered for a moment: "Minzhi, is this incense easy to obtain? Is it expensive? Did you make it yourself with great effort, or did you buy it from somewhere else?"
"It's not hard to find, nor is it very expensive. I bought it from Yangzhou, where there are factories and shops that specialize in making incense. The fragrance of this incense is delicate and pleasant, which I like very much. Therefore, in recent years I have only used this fragrance to scent my clothes and I also carry a sachet with me."
As he spoke, he took a sachet from his belt and handed it to He Youyou.
He Youyou took the sachet, held it under her nose, and took a deep breath.
"Ah—it smells so good, I feel alive again."
Her action made Cheng Tingrui feel a flush on his face again.
"Keep this sachet if you like it. I'll bring you some more incense tomorrow."
He Youyou nodded vigorously: "If it's not expensive, give me more! You can deduct the money from my share of the profits."
"Okay. No need to deduct money, it's just a few boxes of incense, it's not worth much."
“However, Minzhi, you don’t need to send this incense to my house. Just have someone deliver it to the workshop and give it to Manager Xin.”
Cheng Tingrui asked, puzzled, "Why is that?"
"Sigh!" He Youyou sighed deeply. "Minzhi, you don't know, those people in the R&D team are really... When they get their heads down and work, they're all like madmen. They don't go home every day, they don't shower, they just eat and sleep here haphazardly. They've made this perfectly good room stink to high heaven, I can't stand it for a second longer. When your incense arrives, I'm going to have Manager Xin fumigate their room inside and out."
"..."
The March breeze carried the scent of bamboo leaves from Cheng Tingrui's body, making one feel a chill.
He Youyou suddenly realized that he must have come here for something, so she asked, "Minzhi, what brings you here today?"
Cheng Tingrui covered his eyes, then raised them again, a smile playing on his lips: "Youyou, the Shen family dye shop has sent over this year's new colors, and I wanted to take you to see them. When we got to your house, the gatekeeper said you were here, so I came along too."
He Youyou's eyes lit up: "Xiaoyu has figured out a new color? Let's go take a look."
After giving Manager Xin some instructions, He Youyou went with Cheng Tingrui to the fabric shop of Youruitang.
Last year, He Youyou had told Xiaoyu to try to develop one or two new colors each year to be used as the trend colors of the season.
After all, continuous research and development is the only way to sustain sustained high sales.
Unexpectedly, she got it all sorted out as soon as spring arrived this year.
Both colors are very seasonal.
One is green, but it's not the grass green commonly found on the market.
Instead, it's a bluish turquoise green.
In ancient times, plant dyes were used, and it was very simple to achieve the color of grass green.
However, this bluish-green hue is not easy to obtain, and it's unclear how it was created.
The other color is pink.
In Dagan, madder is widely cultivated and, like gardenia, is considered an economic crop.
Pink is quite common, though.
But the pink that Xiaoyu brought was different from the usual madder pink; it was a light pink with a hint of purple.
It's the kind of color that girls would love.
Xiaoyu used two colors to dye silk, cotton, and linen respectively, as samples for people to compare colors.
He Youyou said excitedly, "These two colors are wonderful. I can already imagine the girls in the capital fighting tooth and nail for them."
After saying that, she turned to Cheng Tingrui and asked, "Are you going to make these two colors as limited editions?"
Cheng Tingrui nodded: "That's right. Good things should naturally be sold for their value."
He Youyou did not interfere with his pricing strategy.
She only cares about distributing the profits.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Manager Cheng. It seems I'll get a pretty good share by the end of the year."
Cheng Tingrui's eyes flickered slightly, glancing at the sachet on her waist: "I will try my best."
Before leaving, Cheng Tingrui asked her if she wanted to take two bolts of new colored sample cloth back to make clothes.
He Youyou thought about it and politely declined.
The color was too pale; she didn't like it.
but……
"Cut one piece of each of the two colors to make me a cotton handkerchief."
"good."
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